My Diary

Playing the warm water hunch. 

06/21/04

After posting last week about the water temperature being colder south, I decided to stay north and see if I could catch some Trout using some top-waters. It was a late start for me on Saturday, going in around 3pm after the shop closed. One thing I get asked by many people is how to read the beach. The answer is simple. Go to the beach on any weekend in the summer and the look for the spot full of kids and Grandma. That is a hole. If you find a spot that has a pinch, the weed will be thick on the up current side. If you find a hole without people in it, the reason is that it is sucking out, and they don't like the weed and stuff washing past them. I soon found a spot and hooked up one of my favorite Top Dog's, and started to fish about 1 mile south of the end of the black top on PINS. In a few casts, the Top Dog had been slapped in the air by the Trout about every other cast, so I decided to change tackle. I had got some new lures in the shop that I was going to try; the Rapala Skitter Walks. The first one I hooked on was a SSW-11 RH Red head and white body, top-water lure.

I was impressed by the distance it cast into the wind, more impressed by the ease I could make it walk the dog, and even more impressed by the first Trout that slapped the lure that was now in the ice chest. This formula played out throughout the day, plenty of good trout slapping the Skitter Walks and ending up in the box.  It must be something to do with the hooks and the way they are set on the lure. All I know is that they work and I will be using them the rest of the year. The Trout action was definitely better on the North end. I heard reports of fishing being slow south and great trout reports coming from the north end.  I fished till dark and had some people join me at about the ten, and the trout were still heavy.

and was the first one to land a trout. Surfgirl has not done much top-water work but found that she could work the smaller frog easy. It seemed whatever color Skitter Walk we picked was working, but the frog was the winner on Sunday. I was using a mullet looking lure, the SSW-11, when we had this double hookup.

 Here are a couple of twins and both landed at the same time.

I stopped and talked to Victor, a shark fisherman who was fishing the North End. He said the action had been fantastic, landing Black Tips over six foot.

After the famine of the last couple of months I sure enjoyed catching these trout on Tops Waters again.  Driving slow on the high water, weed moderate, water good.

Regards Nickaway